Whether you are a serious investor in the stock market or not, you have probably heard of Warren Buffett.  Maybe you were just scanning through the Forbes list of richest men in the world and you saw his name.  Or maybe you have seen the headlines from when Warren Buffett or his company Berkshire Hathaway just purchased a big stake in another company.  Buffett is one of the world's richest men and he made his money through investing in the stock market.  Who says you can't make money in the stock market?

Warren Buffett – Investor, Businessman and Philanthropist

Buffett has amassed an enormous fortune from astute investments managed through the holding company Berkshire Hathaway, of which he is the largest shareholder and CEO. With an estimated current net worth of around US$52 billion, he was ranked by Forbes as the third-richest person in the world as of April 2007, behind Bill Gates and Mexican businessman Carlos Slim Helú.

In June 2006, he has made a commitment to give away his fortune to charity, with 83% of it going to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The donation amounts to approximately $30 billion. Buffett's donation is said to be the largest in U.S. history. At the time of the announcement the donation was enough to more than double the size of the foundation.

Despite his immense wealth, Buffett is renowned for his unpretentious and frugal lifestyle. When he spent $9.7 million of Berkshire's funds on a corporate jet in 1989, he jokingly named it “The Indefensible” because of his past criticisms of such purchases by other CEOs. He continues to live in the same house in the central Dundee neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska that he bought in 1958 for $31,500^[ (although he also owned a more expensive home in Laguna Beach, California which he sold in 2004). The current estimated value for his house is around $700,000.

Words of Wisdom from the The Oracle of Omaha

“A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.”

“If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.”

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.”

Education lesson resources from Kamaron Institute for parents and teachers.